The wild pig (Sus scrofa), also called the wild hog, wild boar or feral pig, is not a Florida native and may have been introduced by Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto as early as 1539.
They occur in all of Florida's 67 counties within a wide variety of habitats, but prefer oak-cabbage palm hammocks, freshwater marshes and sloughs and pine flatwoods. Wild pigs can reach weights of more than 150 pounds and be 5-6 feet long. They usually travel in small family groups or alone.
Wild pigs are omnivorous (eating all kinds of foods, both plants and animals) and feed by rooting with their broad snouts. They may cause disturbance of the soil and ground cover vegetation and leave the area looking like a plowed field.
Trying to prevent wild pigs from coming onto your property is usually futile, but adequate fencing can keep them out of small yards and gardens. On private property, nuisance pigs may be trapped using pens with trap doors and baited with acorns or old corn. Trapped animals may not be released on public land, and can only be released on private property with landowner permission. See the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Regulations for Trapping and Transporting Feral Swine.
Wild pigs are legally defined as wildlife and are the second-most popular, large animal hunted in Florida (second only to the white-tailed deer).
On private property with landowner permission, wild pigs may be hunted year round using rifles, shotguns, crossbows, bows or pistols. There is no size or bag limit, and you may harvest either sex. Also, no hunting license is required.
On wildlife management areas (WMAs), hogs may be taken during most hunting seasons, except spring turkey. But, if it's during archery season, you must use a bow - during muzzleloading gun season, you can only use a muzzleloader. And, you do need a hunting license as well as management area permit and any other necessary permits to hunt wild pigs on WMAs - where on some, daily bag limits on wild pigs do apply, and on a few, there's even a minimum size limit on what you can take.
Best Hog Hunting WMAs
Northwest Region - Aucilla, Blackwater Hutton Unit, portions of Blackwater, Apalachicola Bradwell Unit, Choctawhatchee River and portions of Joe Budd
North Central Region - Andrews, Flying Eagle, Big Bend Hickory Mound Unit, Big Bend Snipe Island Unit, Big Bend Tide Swamp Unit, Mallory Swamp, Steinhatchee Springs and Devil's Hammock
Northeast Region - Tosohatchee is the best hog area where hunters get to use dogs. In terms of sheer numbers of hogs taken, Three Lakes typically is tops, followed by Tosohatchee, Triple N Ranch, Guana River, Bull Creek, Three Lakes Prairie Lakes Unit and Fort Drum.
Southwest Region - Green Swamp has the largest harvest each year, followed by Green Swamp West, Babcock/Webb, Chassahowitzka and Myakka State Forest.
South Region - Dinner Island Ranch, J.W. Corbett, Dupuis, Okaloacoochee Slough, Allapattah Flats and Hungryland
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